I personally loved the story and gameplay. The whole thing with Cloud's past was sufficiently convoluted that it made his character interesting. I also agree with Nasarian about the whole Materia magic system. I think it's one of the best in the series. Graphically, it wasn't as strong as VIII or IX but then again it was the first FF PS game Square did so they were still 'learning'. As a side note, I also remember that this was the first game I ever saw advertised on TV.

Yet, while the graphics weren't nearly as strong as VIII and IX it still blew the compitition away. Games like Suikoden and Wild Arms still were still using 2D for their overworld maps and looked alot like SNES games unless you were in a battle.